Dave Matthews’ wine is a hit

dreamtree

It's not uncommon these days to see celebrities in both sports and entertainment establishing or investing in wineries and lending their names to the products to help promote them.

But it's rare, indeed, to find a famous person actually involved in hands-on winemaking.

That's where American alt rocker Dave Matthews is different.

The singer with 14 Top 10 records to his credit got into the wine business some years ago to exercise his longtime passion for the drink and teamed up with acclaimed professional winemaker Steve Reeder to create The Dreaming Tree wines in California. The two men actually make all the wines together as a team.

The name, fans of Matthews will recognize, comes from a song on his third album, Before These Crowded Streets.

And one of the wines from the line is now available in the LCBO for the first time.

The Dreaming Tree Crush Red Blend (introductory discount of $2 to $14.95 a bottle until June 23, code 310391). This is an eclectic combination of grape varieties grown in the North Coast, which is the large designated wine area north of San Francisco.

The base (almost 80 per cent) is Merlot, but there is also Syrah, Zinfandel, Petite Syrah, Malbec and a pinch of Cabernet Sauvignon in the mix.

This is a very dark, full-bodied dry wine with subtle, ripe tannin and complex flavours of blackberries, blueberries, figs, a touch of balsamic richness and a smoky impression. Certainly, it's an excellent value for the money.

But the thinking behind The Dream Tree goes beyond just good-quality wine.

Matthews has long been known for his commitment to environmental causes. So the grapes used are grown in sustainably-managed vineyards without pesticides.

The bottles are deliberately lightweight (about half that of a normal wine bottle) and made in a factory that uses clean-burning natural gas. The corks are real and recyclable and sustainably grown. Labels are made from unbleached, recycled brown paper and printed with low-toxin black ink.

Let's a take a look at two domestic spirits, one new on the shelves and other with a track record in the LCBO, that happen to hail from opposite ends of the country.

The rookie is George Street Spiced Rum ($27.95, code 318717), which is made by Rock Spirits in St. John's, better known for their Screech rum. They've been making George Street for about a year now, and it has done very well in Newfoundland. It's a fairly light rum with a sweet undertone (typical of most spiced liquors of any kind) overlaid with smells and tastes of toasted walnuts, butter tarts, toffee, vanilla and spice notes of cloves and cinnamon. It's also a little lower in alcohol than most spirits, at 35 per cent.

Victoria Gin ($49.95, code 118737), on the other hand, has been around the LCBO for a half dozen years, though I must admit I had never tasted it until recently. As the price suggests, this is small-batch artisanal gin, crafted at a little family-run distillery in, you guessed it, Victoria, B.C. They also make barrel-aged gin, several eaux-de-vies and even a single-malt whisky.

The gin is fragrant and very clean in the mouth, but rather than the juniper flavouring of most gins, I get strong edges of anise and cardamom along with cracked white pepper.

The packaging is also quite interesting, with a picture of a very young Queen Victoria on the label and a bottle shaped like a medicine container from the early years of her reign (gin was widely considered for medicinal purposes at the time).

The annual Ontario Craft Beer Week kicks off tomorrow (June 16) and runs through June 23. It features hundreds of beer tastings and events at micro-breweries and restaurants across Ontario. The week is sponsored by the Ontario Craft Brewers, an organization that represents some 30 small breweries in the province.

For a complete day-by-day calendar of what's happening locally, go to ocbweek.ca.